Aaron Hickey believes that Brentford will bounce back following a first defeat in 13 Premier League matches.

Dwight McNeil’s goal gave Everton all three points at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.

And with Southampton up next on Wednesday night, Hickey called for Brentford’s players to show their resilience at St Mary’s.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game today,” Hickey began.

“Coming here, it’s always a good atmosphere. Their fans were up for it.

“We’re disappointed, but we need to keep our heads up and keep going.

“That was our first loss in a while, so we can’t be too disappointed.

“We’ve got to learn from the game, stay strong and push onto the next one.”

Everton needed just 35 seconds to take the lead, and Hickey admitted that conceding early damaged Brentford’s chances of earning a positive result, despite the team’s best efforts in the second half.

“We had to try and stay in the game after we conceded the early goal,” he continued.

“It was disappointing to concede in the first couple of minutes. When you come to a place like this, it’s the last thing you want.

“We had to deal with it. I thought we were unlucky not to get a goal. We deserved one.

“Pickford’s got a really long kick, and they were picking up the scraps and the second balls, which made it hard for us. During the second half we did that much better.

“I thought we did well in the second half but could have done better in the first. We were unlucky not to get the goal.”